Claims that London is becoming a true cycling city depend on a combination of statistics, politics and PR. For those making such claims, Monday's fine spectacle of the third stage of "Le Tour" - the Tour de France - arriving in the capital fell into the third category.

Wishing every competitor the best of luck, Boris Johnson, "the cycling mayor", expressed certainty that they would "inspire even more Londoners to take to two wheels". Perhaps, but any converts might be outnumbered by those put off, their doubts about the wisdom of braving the city's streets on a bike confirmed by the sight of ultra competitive males jostling for advantage and position.

The anonymous London cyclist whose recent Guardian article attacked "a new kind of boy racer" for attitudes to other road users - fellow cyclists included - that are little different from those of the archetypal pillock in a Porsche rang some loud bells of recognition. A minority they may be, but a companion mentality to their "me first" certainties can be detected in Johnson's attempts to bring his "cycling revolution" rhetoric within sight of reality.

The Tory mayor's second term has been marked by a frantic pedalling for cycle-friendly status following heavy criticism of the earliest of his radial "superhighway" routes and doubts about the efficiency of his hire scheme. His answer was to appoint a dedicated media chum, his fellow Telegraph writer Andrew Gilligan, to the grandly-named part-time post of "cycling commissioner" and revamp the mayoral vision.

This document has won admirers from across the political spectrum and also at Transport for London, whose task it is to implement those of the schemes affecting the roads it controls, although word has it that Gilligan himself is as popular at TfL as a skunk in a perfumerie. Some, presumably including Johnson, think such tension necessary and productive. Others take a different view.

Either way, the sprint to produce cycling policy triumphs before Johnson's mayoralty reaches its finish line in 2016 needs to be judged in the context of his transport strategy as a whole since he was first elected in 2008. The mayor points to an enlarging cycling presence in the capital and big claims have been made (and challenged) about improvements in safety, but it is hard to quantify what effects mayoral initiatives have had on long term trends on cycling in London and, importantly, the sorts of people who go in for it.

Under Johnson, cycling has been part of a dog's dinner approach to road transport whose dominant ingredient has been the mayor's ideological inclination and electoral need to keep the private motorist sweet. He has no plans for expanding the bus service, which carries far more passengers in London than any other transport mode. In May, Gilligan pleased cycling campaigners by telling them that his plans for segregated lanes will have "a significant impact" on some bus services, including the loss of bus lanes.

Whatever the arguments about individual routes, junctions and gyratories, this highlights the competition between different road users for limited road space but is also a reminder of the low priority Johnson continues to give the bus service when he should be pushing the car down the street management pecking order and moving the pedestrian further up it - an argument well made by Patricia Brown, who has fought long battles on these themes and is now deputy chair of the mayor's design advisory group.

The report of the mayor's roads task force, published a year ago, has some good priorities, but why dream of a £30b underground ring road instead of seeking to further deter traffic - overall levels of which have been falling - by expanding congestion charging and raising money to spend on better things in the process? Christian Wolmar, the seasoned transport commentator and so far sole declared contender to be Labour's candidate at the next mayoral election, offers this summary of the principles he believes should be applied:

Making a city more liveable is about balancing the needs of its users. This should not be a battle between buses and cyclists. It is the unrestrained use of cars and the provision of far too much car parking that is the issue. Encouraging cycling has a big role to play as part of improving the feel of a city but it must be the right sort of change. Creating superhighways, which implies cycling at Tour de France speeds is not the right way. We need to create the type of culture that allows grandmothers, as well as fit young men to cycle, all the while accomodating pedestrians as well.

Making things change in London always takes time. That's why getting the direction of change right matters so much. "Le Tour" has moved on. The challenge of getting London's street management right remains.